In fact, the game blew out the league’s two other outdoor games, which peaked at 21,508 fans who attended a Syracuse, N.Y. game. NHL.com reveals that Philadelphia now holds the AHL attendance records for both regular season and playoff games.

As far as the contest itself, the Phantoms (Philadelphia Flyers affiliate) topped the Bears (Washington Capitals affiliate) 4-3 thanks to Shane Harper’s overtime goal. If that spoiler fails to ruin your urge to watch the game,* you can check it out on the NHL Network on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET.

* – Oops, should I have given you an alert, there? Sorry. (Cackles evilly.)

Specialty soups available will be tomato bisque and a chicken, cannellini bean and Tuscan kale.

Those soups will be paired with two Panini sandwiches — a maple-brined turkey breast with oil-cured tomatoes, thick-cut bacon, brown butter and sage mayonnaise on ciabatta bread; and a petit filet with Kenneth Square mushrooms, onions and Vermont cheddar grilled cheese.

Other sandwiches added for the game include a lobster BLT — a fresh lobster salad with bacon, oil-cured tomatoes and a bit of celery greens — as well as an Italian sausage sandwich with broccoli rabe and sharp provolone on a seeded Italian roll.

There also will be a Flyers-inspired sandwich — the Broad Street Bullies Breakfast Sandwich, made with cage-free eggs, melted cheddar cheese and slab bacon, and served on a Liscio’s roll.

/puts on elastic waist pants

Oh, and how could I forget — there are desserts!

“For desert we’re going to be featuring Gina’s Cupcakes,” Richmond said. “And we did some special ones up for this event. There’s a Flyers-colored (orange) vanilla, and we’ll also have a cannoli (cupcake) and red velvet. We’re also going to be featuring S’mores and warm apple pies.”

For those of you that like your food-rotica visual rather than textual, here’s a video rundown of the menu options at this year’s Winter Classic:

What has two thumbs and will eat his own body weight in grilled cheese steak sandwiches? THIS GUY.

The NHL has released an architectural rendering of what Citizens Bank Park will look like for the 2012 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic:

While NHL Facilities and Operations Manager Dan Craig and his crew arrived today (with their famous 53-foot refrigeration truck) to start building the rink, a couple of features have already been installed. The first pieces of armor decking have been laid down to protect the baseball field and the temporary seating you see in center field has been erected.

Related: Here’s the NHL.com live video stream of Winter Classic field prep in real-time.

After all the speculation and all the acceptance that this was going to be the game featuring these teams, the league will make it official as both the Rangers and Flyers will be in Philadelphia that day for a preseason game and the Phillies are on the road against the Atlanta Braves.

If you’re still in the skeptical camp about the game (and why would you be?) Enrico Campitelli from The 700 Level snapped a photo of the 2012 Winter Classic logo being tested out on the scoreboard screen at Citizens Bank Park before a Phillies-Nationals game. That should just about confirm everything in that case.

There are no details yet on what exactly will occur during the conference, but we’ve got a hunch the two team’s Classic jerseys could be – again, finally – revealed. After all, by this time last year, we knew most details regarding the Pittsburgh Penguins-Washington Capitals game.

Perhaps we can get to see Marian Gaborik and Daniel Briere try to slap shot pucks over the fences at the park just for fun the way the Capitals and Penguins shot pucks through the uprights at Heinz Field. If you’re not going to give us all the details, at least entertain the heck out of us with silliness.

We admit, we’re being a bit silly about harping on about how the 2012 Winter Classic in Philadelphia hasn’t been made official yet. It’s a game on the schedule taking place on Monday, January 2 and, of course, it’s a 1 p.m. puck drop that will be live on NBC but the league had yet to make all the details official.

The announcement has been long overdue and was actually expected in August.

It will be made prior to the Flyers-Rangers exhibition game, scheduled that night at Wells Fargo Center. The Flyers are scheduled to play the Rangers in the Winter Classic on Jan. 2.

It is expected the announcement will be made at Citizens Bank Park.

If you’re wondering, the Phillies are on the road in Atlanta on the 26th so the stadium is free and clear to hold the press event if need be. It’s been the league’s worst kept secret since early in the summer when the first details leaked about who was playing and where it would be, but making it all absolutely official now means we can get officially geeked up about the game.

Last year’s Winter Classic had the marquee match-up of having Sidney Crosby going up against Alex Ovechkin. This time around, there’s an array of personalities and story lines to follow along with. Brad Richards in his first year on Broadway, Jaromir Jagr with Philadelphia after spurning Pittsburgh in the offseason, Ilya Bryzgalov’s first season in Philly as the starting goalie savior, John Tortorella yelling at everyone and everything. At the very least, the set up for HBO’s 24/7, which has already started taping, will serve to be must-watch programming leading up to the Winter Classic.

Just think, the season hasn’t started yet, but we’re less than four months away from the Winter Classic. Not that we’re looking ahead or anything.